SHSU
Update For Week Of Feb. 10
Sower To Give Career Advice
During ‘Personal’ Lecture
One of SHSU’s Piper professors, Vic Sower, will discuss
“the importance of planning in career selection/development
and the need to be flexible in executing those plans”
on Wednesday (Feb. 13) as part of the Student Advising and
Mentoring Center’s “Up Close and Personal”
speaker series.
"Designed to help our students and university community
build mentoring relationships with our outstanding faculty,"
the 30-minute lunchtime presentation will be held at noon
at the Farrington Pit, according to Bernice Strauss, director
of academic support programs for the SAM Center.
“Several times in my professional life I was presented
with opportunities that I had not planned for and which caused
me to take an unplanned—but good—turn in my career,”
Sower said, noting that his undergraduate degree is in chemistry,
and he is now a professor of operations management.
“So I suppose my main theme will be the importance of
personal career planning but with openness to opportunities
and preparation so that when opportunities present themselves
you can take advantage of them,” he said.
Sower, who has taught SHSU since 1990, was the 1996 recipient
of the SHSU Excellence in Teaching Award and the 2001 recipient
of the SHSU Excellence in Research Award. In 2005, he became
SHSU’s ninth professor to be named a Piper Professor
by the Minnie Stevens Piper Foundation.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Virginia
Polytechnic Institute and State University, a master’s
degree from Auburn University and a doctorate from the University
of North Texas.
Sower will also leave time during the event for questions
from the students.
For more information, contact Strauss at 936.294.4455 or sam_bss@shsu.edu.
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Professor To ‘Loosen
Up’ Piney Woods Lecture
Keri Kornelson, assistant professor of mathematics at Grinnell
College, will discuss "Loosen Up: Tight Frames in R^n"
on Monday (Feb. 11).
The first of the spring Piney Woods Lecture Series presentations
will be held from 2-3 p.m. in the Lee Drain Building Room
214.
Kornelson received her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University
of Colorado at Boulder and worked in the aerospace industry
before returning to CU for her doctorate in mathematics.
She was a postdoctoral fellow at Texas A&M University
before moving to Grinnell, in Iowa.
Her research interests include wavelets, frames, and iterated
function systems, and she recently co-authored a book about
frames published by the American Mathematical Society.
Following the lecture, a reception will be held on the fourth
floor of the LDB that will give students the opportunity to
meet and talk with Kornelson.
The Piney Woods Lecture Series is funded by the Mathematical
Association of America, the Tensor Foundation, the SHSU department
of mathematics and statistics, and the College of Arts and
Sciences.
The series is designed to “invite well-known female
mathematicians to the SHSU campus to speak, and therefore
provides SHSU graduate and undergraduate students exposure
to well-known female mathematicians in a variety of research
areas,” according to Jacqueline Jensen, assistant professor
of mathematics.
For more information, call the mathematics
and statistics department at 936.294.1563 or
visit http://www.shsu.edu/~mth_jaj/pwls/.
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Sammy Award Noms Due Feb.
22
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The Student Activities Department is seeking SHSU’s
outstanding students, organizations and advisers for the 14th
Annual Sammy Awards.
"The Sammys is Sam Houston State University's official
student award ceremony,” said Brandon Cooper, program
coordinator for Student Activities. “It's truly a way
for the university to recognize the outstanding students and
organizations that we have.
“For 14 years the Sammys’ focus has been honoring
the amazing contributions that students and faculty/staff
make at SHSU, it's the university's way of saying thank you
to those individuals and groups," he said.
Sammy
awards will be given to 18 individuals and organizations,
and approximately four will be given to graduating students
and faculty or staff members for outstanding contributions
and service to the university, which require nominations from
members of the university community at-large.
In addition, five individual awards representing excellent
service from a student in each of the five colleges at SHSU
will be awarded, which require nominations strictly made from
members of the SHSU faculty within each student’s particular
college, according to Cooper.
Students nominated for individual awards must have a minimum
overall grade point average of 2.5 and meet the minimum hours
required for the class standings in which they are nominated.
Nomination
forms, due by 5 p.m. on Feb. 22, should be returned
to the Department
of Student Activities, located in the Lowman
Student Center Suite 328; through campus mail to SHSU Box
2507; or faxed to 936.294.3652.
For more information, call 936.294.3861 or e-mail sammyawards@shsu.edu.
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Lecture To Address Brain,
Education Correlation
Janet N. Zadina, an award-winning neuroanatomy researcher,
will discuss “Brain Research: Impact on Education”
on Wednesday (Feb. 13).
The lecture, sponsored by the College of Education and the
Professional and Academic Center for Excellence, will be held
from 8:30-11:30 a.m. in the Lowman Student Center Theatre.
Zadina, who has presented keynotes and workshops on brain
research and instruction internationally, is currently an
assistant professor of cognitive neuroscience at Tulane University
and in psychology at the University of South Florida engaged
in neuroscience research.
She received her doctorate at the University of New Orleans,
conducting her award-winning dissertation research on the
neuroanatomy of dyslexia through collaboration with Tulane
University School of Medicine.
Zadina continued her postdoctoral education with a fellowship
in cognitive neuroscience at Tulane University School of Medicine,
where she researched neuroanatomical risk factors for developmental
language disorders through MRI brain scans.
The continuing education opportunity will provide certificates
with documented clock hours and printed names for those who
sign-in with an SHSU ID.
For more information, contact Rebecca Robles-Piña,
in the College
of Education, at 936.294.1118 or edu_rar@shsu.edu
or Marsha Harman, PACE
chair, at 936.294.3614 or harman@shsu.edu.
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Blood Drive To Benefit Wounded
Troops
The SHSU ROTC will share the “gift of life” with
troops in Iraq and Afghanistan through a blood drive on Monday
and Tuesday (Feb 11-12).
The drive, open to both the Bearkat and Huntsville communities,
will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on both days in the
Lowman Student Center Ballroom.
All donated blood will be shipped to Iraq or Afghanistan within
four days of donation for service members who have been wounded,
according to 2nd Lt. Austin Huckabee.
Donors must bring a valid picture identification in order
to give, must weigh at least 110 pounds and should be in general
good health, without any cold or flu symptoms.
For more information, call the military
science department at 936.294.1306.
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Fair To Provide Summer
Job, Internship Possibilities
Students looking for summer jobs or internships will have
approximately 27 entities to choose from during Career Services’
Summer Camp And Job Fair on Wednesday (Feb. 13).
The fair will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Lowman
Student Center Ballroom.
Positions will be available at such organizations as the
Sherwin-Williams Company, Texas Department of Family and Protective
Services, Enterprise Rent-A-Center, Memorial Hermann Sports
Medicine and the United States Marine Corps Officer Selection,
among others.
Summer camps, such as Kidventure Camps, YMCA Camp Cullen,
Camp Arrowhead, Camp Island Lake and Forest Glen Christian
Camp, will also be on hand.
Both career fairs are open to all SHSU students and alumni.
For more information and a complete list of registered companies,
call Career
Services at 936.294.1713.
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ADAI To Warn Of Drinking
Away The ‘Stupid Cupid’
While Valentine’s Day is often thought of as the day
for lovers, the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Initiative will think
of those flying solo during “Stupid Cupid” on
Thursday (Feb. 14).
The frank discussion about friendship, dating, sex and how
these relationships are influenced by drugs and alcohol will
be held from 2-3 p.m. in the Lowman Student Center Room 304.
During the event, licensed psychologist Drew Miller, from
SHSU’s Counseling Center, will lead the discussion on
the many ways in which people may choose to cope with Valentine’s
Day: whether it’s drinking away the loneliness or turning
to drugs or alcohol when their partner doesn’t meet
their expectations, according to ADAI assistant Lisa Joyner.
“This day is a day when students do participate in risky
behaviors,” she said. “For a lot of people, love
is a very important thing, and they will do anything to feel
that love, especially on Valentine’s Day.”
Miller will also warn students of the dangers of accepting
drinks from strangers while celebrating at a bar or club that
may contain date rape drugs such as Rohypnol, or GHB, which
“are odorless and tasteless,” Joyner said.
“We want students to realize that there are other things
they can be doing, other activities that they can be involved
in, because once you mix, drugs, alcohol and love the results
can be devastating,” she said.
“Stupid Cupid” is part of the Six Weeks of Alcohol
Awareness Training program, an educational series aiming to
increase awareness of alcohol abuse issues among the Bearkat
community.
Through SWAAT, students earn prizes by attending events, which
accumulate as students attend more programs.
For more information, or a complete schedule of events for
the semester, visit the ADAI Web site at www.shsu.edu/adai
or contact Rosanne
Keathley, ADAI coordinator, at 936.294.1171.
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Tour To Explore ‘Winter
Sky’ Through ‘Hubble Vision’
The physics department will give a public tour of “what’s
currently up in the winter night sky” and information
on the Hubble Space Telescope during its planetarium series
program on Friday (Feb. 15).
The planetarium series program, which shows attendees which
constellations, stars and planets they can expect to see in
the upcoming weeks, will be held at 7 p.m. in the planetarium,
located in Farrington Building Room F102.
The show will last approximately one hour and will visit the
constellations visible during the long, cold months of the
winter season, according to Michael Prokosch, staff aide for
the physics department.
“They will hear the tale of Orion and meet other mythical
figures represented as constellations, such as Gemini and
Taurus,” he said. “‘Winter Sky’ mixes
ancient Egyptian, Roman and Greek astronomy lore.”
The program will also explore “all things Hubble,”
from its launch, discoveries, and famous images taken, such
as the Hubble Deep Field, Hubble Ultra Deep Field, the Pillars
of Creation and more with “Hubble Vision,” according
to Prokosch.
“The Hubble Space Telescope is expected to receive a
final service mission from the space shuttle in summer of
2008 to extend its life well into the next decade,”
he said. “Space will never again look the same.”
The planetarium seats up to 29 visitors and includes a dome
that is approximately 18 feet in diameter and more than 20
feet high in the center, according to Prokosch.
Admission is free.
For more information on current show times for the planetarium
or the observatory, call 936.294.3664 or e-mail
Prokosch at vis_mwp@shsu.edu.
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Thesis Concert To Focus On ‘She’
The SHSU dance program will celebrate women with two performances
on Thursday and Friday (Feb. 14-15).
“SHE” will be held at 8 p.m. on both days in the
Academic Building III Dance Theatre.
The collaborative thesis dance concert will feature graduate
students Samantha Angus and Kyla Olson.
Angus’ piece, “Woman Embodied,” is a choreographic
interpretation of the feminist artist Judy Chicago’s
composition “The Dinner Party” and looks at “the
female body as subject versus object in art and dance,”
according to Angus.
Olson will present “the unique coping strategies used
by female Holocaust survivors” in her piece, You Who
Give Us Courage; You Who Gave Us Hope.”
“It explores the distinctive female experience inside
concentration camps and serves as a tribute to those remarkable
women,” she said.
Admission is free, but seating will be limited. Doors will
open at 7:30 p.m.
For more information, call 936.294.4195 or e-mail keo002@shsu.edu
or sda002@shsu.edu.
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Department Offers
German, French Practice
Sprechen sie Deutsch? Parle vous français?
For those who do (speak German), the foreign language department
has begun hosting a “German Table” every Friday
from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the Lowman Student Center
food court.
The peer-driven discussions, overseen by visiting assistant
professor of German Frankki James, are open to German speakers
of all skill levels, according to foreign languages department
chair Debra Andrist.
German-speaking faculty are also encouraged to attend, she
said.
The “Table français,” for French-speaking
students, faculty and staff, will be held on the last Thursday
of each month at 4 p.m. in Evans 315.
Overseen by Madalina Akli, assistant professor of French,
the French table will be held in Evans Building Room 315.
For more information, contact Andrist at andrist@shsu.edu
or 936.294.1414.
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Music To Host Trumpet, Jazz
Concerts
The School of Music will jazz up the week with three performances
beginning Monday (Feb. 11).
On that day, the Trumpet Studio will perform works from the
standard solo trumpet repertoire, spanning a time period between
the mid-1500s to the mid-1900s, during two concerts.
Retired SHSU staff accompanist David Fleming will also join
the group, which will perform at 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. in the
Recital Hall.
Admission is free.
On Tuesday (Feb. 12), three student groups will come together
for an evening of jazz at 7:30 p.m. in the Criminal Justice
Center’s Killinger Auditorium.
Performances will include the SHSU Jazz Ensemble, with guest
artist Scott Plugge, performing such pieces as “Lovely
Lady,” “The Meaning of the Blues” and “Stairway
to the Stars;” the SHSU Jazz Lab, performing the “Funky
Cha-Cha” and “Meditation;” and Artistry
in Rhythm, a group of vocal majors who like to sing jazz,
performing “It Had to be You” and “Fly Me
to the Moon.”
Tickets are $10, or $5 for SHSU students and senior citizens
with an ID.
For more information, call the School
of Music at 936.294.1360.
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Junior Fellows Follow
Civil Rights Movement With Trip
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| Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe (third from
left) and the fellows discussed civic engagement during
their recent trip through the state and Tennessee, where
they visited sites significant to the Civil Rights Movement.
|
SHSU’s Political Science Junior Fellows honored Black
History Month last week by visiting locations significant
to the Civil Rights Movement and discussed government with
both the Arkansas governor and attorney general.
The importance of civic engagement and other happenings in
Arkansas and Texas were the topics at hand when the fellows
met with Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe, on whose campaign the organization
worked in 2005 and 2006.
The governor and his staff held the group up as an example
of public-minded individuals coming together to “make
a difference” and complimented the students on their
“efforts to help change the way people see government
and offering positive visions and constructive engagement,”
according to junior fellows secretary Megan Bryant.
“It was great to hear about his (Beebe's) approach
to solving public problems," said fellows president Ademide
Adedokun. "His enthusiasm for service is contagious.”
Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel and his staff discussed
the changes in the attorney general’s role over the
past two decades, giving the students a comprehensive overview
of the office and its responsibilities, Bryant said.
"The fellows, especially the prospective law students,
were especially pleased with the visit," she said.
The trip also included a wide variety of educational destinations
in Little Rock, Ark., and Memphis, Tenn., including the Clinton
Presidential Library, the Little Rock Civil Rights Museum,
the Douglas MacArthur Museum of Military History, the National
Civil Rights Museum and Graceland.
“We chose destinations that were politically, historically
and culturally significant,” said junior fellows secretary
Megan Bryant. “Everyone is excited about the opportunity
to learn while having fun.”
On Feb. 8, the organization visited Little Rock Central High,
where nine African American students forced a constitutional
showdown between federal and state governments over the issue
of equal rights to educational opportunities.
Among the other activities the fellows visited were the Lorraine
Motel, where Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated and
the current site of the National Civil Rights Museum; and
the Sun Record Studios, where Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and
Elvis Presley began their careers.
“This trip broadens and enriches students’ education,”
Adedokun said. “It’s exactly what we strive for
as a civic organization.”
The trip is part of the organization’s ongoing effort
to promote education through travel. Later this semester,
the students will spend a weekend in College Station attending
a campaign bootcamp, a two-day, 25-hour preparation for life
on the campaign trail.
They also will be volunteering regularly at the Wynne Home,
the HEARTS Veterans Museum and the Huntsville Public Library.
The Political
Science Junior Fellows is a civic-minded organization
that promotes civic engagement among youth, emphasizing public
service, education and professionalism.
They were named the “Outstanding Academic/Honors Organization”
at SHSU and named Chamber of Commerce’s “Community
Service Organization of the Year” for 2007.
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Greeks Donate Money To
Advocacy Group
 |
(From left) Lacy True and Debbie Sapp,
with CASA of
Walker County, accepted a $500 check on Feb. 5 from and
Daniel Pawlowski, Interfraternity Council president and
Cortney Mullman, Panhellenic Association president. |
Members of SHSU’s Interfraternity Council and Panhellenic
Association, the two governing bodies of social fraternities
and sororities at Sam Houston State University, recently gave
$500 to CASA of Walker County.
CASA, which stands for Court Appointed Special Advocates,
is a non-profit organization that works to assist children
to the best of their interest in court cases.
The groups presented the check on Feb. 5 to CASA of Walker
County representatives Lacy True and Debbie Sapp after collecting
the money during a “Holiday Bash” and T-shirt
fundraiser in December, according to Student Activities program
coordinator and group adviser Brandon Cooper.
“They had a discussion of several different charities,”
Cooper said. “They decided that they definitely wanted
to donate to a local charity and one that doesn’t get
a lot of attention.”
SHSU’s IFC is comprised of 10 fraternities: Alpha Tau
Omega, Delta Tau Delta, Kappa Alpha, Kappa Sigma, Lambda Chi
Alpha, Phi Delta Theta, Sigma Chi, Sigma Lambda Beta, Tau
Kappa Epsilon and Theta Chi.
The Panhellenic Association is comprised of four sororities:
Alpha Chi Omega, Alpha Delta Pi, Zeta Tau Alpha, and Sigma
Sigma Sigma.
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Send Update Items Here
Information for the SHSU Update can be sent to the Office
of Public Relations electronically at Today@Sam.edu
or to any of the media contacts listed below.
Please include the date, location and time of the event,
as well as a brief description and a contact person.
All information for news stories should be sent to the office
at least a week in advance to give the PR staff ample time
to make necessary contacts and write the story.
For electronic access to SHSU news see the Public Relations
Web page Today@Sam.
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- END -
SHSU Media Contacts: Frank
Krystyniak, Julia May,
Jennifer Gauntt
Feb. 8, 2008
Please send comments, corrections, news tips to Today@Sam.edu
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